Archives for October, 2011

Hi Everyone. I recently found a way to have links in the Application Layout that comes with the Xpages Extension Library, to open in their own Window if you so wish. You can see a working example of this on my Xpages Showcase. Below I explain how I achieved this.

Let’s say you created a Footer Link in the Properties of the Application Layout Custom Control called “My Page“, and the href parameter is “http://www.mypage.com“, it would look something like this:

This will work perfectly, except that it will open the URL in the current window, overwriting your Xpage.

So, to open the link in its own window, you will use a simple JavaScript Function: window.open(“http://www.mydomain.com”, “_blank”);

Now, if you try to add this to the href property, it will not work, because it would be regarded as a link and not a JavaScript Function. So, to achieve the desired result, you will need to add the JavaScript Function to the onClick property. Please take note of the following 2 conditions:

1. Make sure that the href property is empty. Otherwise it will take preference over the onClick property.

2. Don’t make the onClick property computed and then add the JavaScript, otherwise it will run the Function as SSJS, which won’t work.

Simply paste the JavaScript Function as a string value in the onClick property. See below:

And that’s it. I hope this all made sense. Until next time….Happy Coding.

Hi everyone. Well, good news, we have another Video Tutorial for you. A while ago I released a video where I demoed how easy it was to implement the View Picklist Custom Control into one’s XPage.

In this new Video Tutorial, I give a similar demo, but I focus on the Version 3 Picklist Control, which introduces 2 additional controls:

– The Loading Mask, and

– The Deselect Field.

These 2 controls together with the Picklist Custom Control really beef up the user experience on one’s XPage. You can test out this functionality by going to our Online Xpages Showcase. I use the Picklist Control for both the Project Manager Report as well as the Timesheet Dashboard.

I firstly want to thank Mark Hughes from HughesConnect.com for creating this awesome control. I use it quite often, and it only made sense when Mark released the new version, that I contribute by creating a video for it.

Secondly, I want to thank and congratulate everyone who contributed Custom Controls to OpenNTF.org, whether as part of the Development Contest or just because. You’ve really given the XPages community a massive boost by providing awesome re-usable Controls for our Application Development.

Finally, a thank to David Leedy from NotesIn9.com for hosting this Video as part of your Screen Cast Series. We all know how busy you are, and I thank you for your continuous commitment to the Community.

So, without further adieu, here is the Tutorial. I trust you will enjoy, and I welcome any feedback you may have. You can find me on Twitter @John_Ukuvuma.

NOTE: In this tutorial I make mention of a video that Mark Hughes released a while ago which explains how to enable Type Ahead and Searching for the Picklist Custom Control. Be sure to check this video out on NotesIn9.com

NOTE: The second OpenNTF Development Contest was recently launched. If you are an XPages Developer, you’re welcome to participate. There are some cool prizes up for grabs.

Hi everyone. I’ve been recently blessed with some awesome information that I have to re-distribute. Last week I worked on an Xpage that made use of the DynamicViewPanel Custom Control that ships with the 852 XPages Extension Library. I needed to expand on certain functionality that just didn’t seem available, until I had a small chat with Mr Paul Withers.

He showed me how to access Properties and Methods of Java Objects that make up what we know as Xpages and Custom Controls. This allowed me in my Xpages, to get a handle on whichever Custom Control, and execute methods I didn’t know were there. You can imagine the possibilities.

A Quick Example:

Let’s say I have an Expand/Collapse Pager on my Xpage, and it’s bound to a ViewPanel. What if I wanted to expand, collapse the View Data based on certain Xpage Events, instead of manually clicking on the Expand/Collapse Pager. Thanks to a certain Eclipse View, and a button called “F4“, I can view all the Properties and Methods that make up the Expand/Collapse Pager, (two of them been “expandAll” and “collapseAll“), and manipulate the View Panel Data during an onPageLoad or onClick event, instead of clicking on the actual Expand/Collapse Pager.

Hi Everyone. Well, here it is. I promised this yesterday, but I decided to include a Video walk through of the Timesheet Dashboard, and I struggled a bit to get the Dojo Accordion Control to work in IE7 & 8. Thanks Paul Withers for your help.

In this Blog Entry, I explain the technical features of the Timesheet Dashboard. To test out the Timesheet Dashboard, click here to open up the Ukuvuma Xpages Showcase. Additionally, you can watch the below video which gives you a walk through of the Timesheet System in our Xpages Showcase.

OVERVIEW OF TIMESHEET DASHBOARD:

The idea behind the Timesheet Dashboard, is to allow Users to quickly Add, View and Edit their Timesheets without having to navigate away from the Page or wait for the Page to reload. This is where Xpages is very powerful. once the Users Timesheets are added, they can then navigate to the Project Manager Report and view their captured timesheets per Project.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE TIMESHEET DASHBOARD:

The Timesheet Dashboard makes use of the following additional Custom Controls that aren’t shipped with Domino 852: